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Daniel Moore (poet)
Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore (born July 30, 1940) is an American poet, essayist, and librettist. Life Overview Moore was born in Oakland, California, as Daniel Moore. In 1970 he embraced the Sufic tradition of Islam and changed his name to Abdal-Hayy (eventually merging it with his birth-name). Since then he has become known for spiritually-informed works such as Ramadan Sonnets (1996) and The Blind Beekeeper (2002), and Hamza Yusuf, as well as Mohja Kahf, among others, have referred to him as "American Islam's poet laureate". Early career In early adulthood Moore traveled widely, living in Morocco, Spain, Algeria, and Nigeria as well as in Santa Barbara in the United States. His debut book of poems, Dawn Visions, was published by Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Lights Books, San Francisco, in 1964. As recompense for publishing. Ferlinghetti insisted Moore do oil paintings on a large number of Dawn Vision books that Fertlinghetti wished to present to friends. Manuscripts of these poems won the Ina Coolbrith Award for poetry and the James D. Phelan Award. City Lights also published Moore's 2nd book, Burnt Heart: Ode to the War Dead, in 1972. In 1965, Moore lived in Boston's North End and worked at odd jobs to sustain himself and his wife of that time. He appeared on the radio reading his poems, and translated essays by Antonin Artaud, under the tutelage of his friend, poet and editor, David Rattray. He was also acquainted with the Boston poet John Wieners. He returned to San Francisco, and then to Mexico, where he suffered a serious car accident and was bedridden for a month and a half with a broken pelvis and chipped socket of his right elbow. Returning to Berkeley, he became involved in the cultural world of that time, and inspired one night by the very name that came to him, The Floating Lotus Magic Opera Company, and sensing a visionary need to bring his poetry into a spatial and theatrical dimension, he inaugurated the sacred theater company. At this juncture in American cultural history, the so-called literary and drug-culture of San Francisco became increasingly energized in the climate of the anti-war movement. From 1966 to 1969, Moore wrote and directed ritual theater for his Floating Lotus Magic Opera Company in Berkeley, California. He wrote and directed 2 major productions which were presented at night (with few exceptions) by torchlight in an outdoor amphitheater in North Berkeley, at Hinkel Park, and attended by large numbers of people, always free of charge (a book of the texts and photographs is in preparation for publication as of 2010). Conversion In 1970, about 6 months after the disbanding of The Floating Lotus Magic Opera Company, Moore met Ian Dallas, aka Abdal-Qadir Shaykh Dr. Abdal-Qadir as-Sufi in Berkeley, and entered Islam in the Sufi Shadhiliyya Tariqat of Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib, of which Abdal-Qadir was then the muqaddem, or deputy. Moore was given the name Abd al-Hayy, and began traveling extensively in Europe and North Africa, living for a time in Nigeria, and in Andalusia, Spain, where he was a participant in the Islamic Renaissance there in the mid and late 70s, a movement that is still growing today (2009). He also spent time with his family in Blanco, Texas, in the community of Shaykh Fadhlallah Haeri and Imam Da'ud, but left it with his family and moved to Santa Barbara, California, aided by his long-time friend, Hakim Archuletta, who was also an actor in Moore's sacred theater company and who presently offers lectures on Wisdom Healing all over the world. Regarding Moore's poetic work, Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote of this period: “Moore became a Sufi and, like Rimbaud, renounced written poetry.” But after 10 years of not writing while traveling and under the tutelage of Shaykh Abdal-Qadir, Moore “renounced” his renunciation and published three books of poetry in Santa Barbara, California in the 1980s: The Desert is the Only Way Out, The Chronicles of Akhira, and Halley's Comet. He also organized poetry-readings for the Santa Barbara Arts Festivals and wrote the libretto for a commissioned oratorio by American composer Henry Brant, entitled Rainforest (available on CD in the Henry Brant Editions), which had its world premiere at the Santa Barbara Arts Festival on April 21, 1989. 1990 onward In 1990 Moore moved with his family to Philadelphia, where he is active in local literary and spiritual activities. He has received commissions for 2 prose books with Running Press of that city, the best-selling The Zen Rock Garden and a men’s movement anthology, Warrior Wisdom; his commissioned book for The Little Box of Zen was published in 2001 by Larry Teacher Books. Moore's poems have appeared in Zyzzyva, City Lights Review, and The Nation. He has read his poetry to 40,000 people at the United Nations in New York at a rally for the people of Bosnia during that war, and has participated in numerous conferences and conventions at universities (including Bryn Mawr, The University of Chicago and Duke University in 1998, the American University at Cairo, Egypt, in 1999, and the University of Arkansas in the year 2000). His book The Ramadan Sonnets, co-published by Kitab and City Lights Books, appeared in 1996, and his book of poems, The Blind Beekeeper, distributed by Syracuse University Press, in January 2002. He has over 50 manuscripts of poetry which make up his present body of work. In March 2000 and October 2001, Moore collaborated with the Lotus Music and Dance Studio of New York, performing the poetic narration he wrote for their multicultural dance-performance of The New York Ramayana, and recently revived his own theatrical project in The Floating Lotus Magic Puppet Theater, presenting The Mystical Romance of Layla & Majnun with live-action and hand-puppets. He wrote the scenario and poetic narration and directed a collaboration between traditional Mohawk and modern dancers for The Eagle Dance: A Tribute to the Mohawk High Steel Workers, which was to be presented in New York on September 22, 2001, postponed for a performance on March 16, 2002 at the Aaron Davis Hall in Harlem. He has participated in The People’s Poetry Gathering of New York, narrating a cabaret-version of The New York Ramayana at the Bowery Poetry Club and participating in a panel on The Poet in The World: Words in Community. He continues to give many public readings during the year, often accompanying himself on specially tuned zithers. Publications Poetry * Dawn Visions. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1964. * This Body of Black Light. Cambridge, MA: Fred Stone, 1965. * Burnt Heart. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1971. * The Desert is the Only Way Out. Santa Barbara, CA: Zilzal Press, 1985. * The Chronicles of Akhira. Santa Barbara, CA: Zilzal Press, 1986. * Halley's Comet. Santa Barbara, CA: Zilzal Press, 1986. * Atomic Dance. Santa Barbara, CA: am here books, 1988. * Awake As Never Before. Philadelphia: Zilzal Press, 1993. * The Quest for Beauty (illustrated by Sara Steele). Philadelphia: Zilzal Press, 1994. * Roses: A selection of poems. Philadelphia: Zilzal Press, 1994. * Maulood, a poem in praise of The Prophet Muhammad. Philadelphia: Zilzal Press, 1995. * Mecca/Medina Time-Warp. Philadelphia: Zilzal Press, 1996. * The Ramadan Sonnets. Bethesda, MD / San Francisco, CA: Kitab / City Lights Books, 1996. * The Blind Beekeeper. Philadelphia: Zilzal Press, 1999. * The Blind Beekeeper, Poems. Syracuse, NY: Jusoor / Syracuse University Press, 2001. * Mars & Beyond. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2005. * Salt Prayers. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2005. * Laughing Buddha Weeping Sufi. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2005. * Ramadan Sonnets. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2005. * Psalms for the Brokenhearted. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2006. * I Imagine a Lion. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2006. * Coattails of the Saint. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2006. * Love is a Letter Burning in a High Wind. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2006. * Abdallah Jones and the Disappearing-Dust Caper. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2006. * The Flame of Transformation Turns to Light/Ninety-Nine Ghazals Written in English. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2007. * Underwater Galaxies. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2007. * The Music Space. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2007. * Cooked Oranges. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2007. * Through Rose Colored Glasses. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2008. * Like When You Wave at a Train and the Train Hoots Back at You/Farid's Book. The Ecstatic Exchange,2008. * In the Realm of Neither. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2008. * The Fire Eater's Lunchbreak. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2008. * Millennial Prognostications. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2008. * You Open a Door and It's a Starry Night. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2009. * Where Death Goes. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2009. * Shaking the Quicksilver Pool. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2009. * The Perfect Orchestra. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2009. * Sparrow on the Prophet's Tomb. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2009. * A Maddening Disregard for the Passage of Time. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2009. * Stretched Out on Amethysts. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2010. * Invention of the Wheel. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2010. * Chants for the Beauty Feast. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2011. * In Constant Incandescence. The Ecstatic Exchange, 2011. Commissioned works (poetry/prose) * The Zen Rock Garden, A way of seeing (with boxed miniature rock garden). Philadelphia: Running Press, 1992. * Warrior Wisdom. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1993. * The New York Ramayana (poetry narration). New York: Lotus Music & Dance Studios, 2000. * The Little Box of Zen. Larry Teacher Books, 2001. * The Eagle Dance: A tribute to the Mohawk high-steel workers (scenario, poetry text, direction and narration). New York: Lotus Music & Dance Studios, 2001. Juvenile * The Story of Noah (illustrated by Malika Moore). Texas: Iqra Books, 1979. * The Cage-bird's Escape (illustrated by the author). Texas: Zahra Publications, 1981. * Sulayman and the Throne of Bilqis (illustrated by Malika Moore). Texas: Zahra Publications, 1983. * Abdallah Jones and the Disappearing-Dust Caper. The Ecstatic Exchange/Crescent Series, 2006. Edited * Mahmoud Darwish, The Adam of Two Edens: Poems of Mahmoud Darwish (various translators). Syracuse, NY: Jusoor / Syracuse University Press, 2001. * The Burda of Shaykh Busiri (translated by Hamza Yusuf with editorial assistance by Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore with Michael Wolfe). Sandala, 2003. * Mahmoud Darwish, State of Siege (translated by Munir Akash). 2004. * Imam Muhammad (b. Nasir al-Dari), The Prayer of the Oppressed (editorial assistance to the translation by Hamza Yusuf). Sandala, 2010. Theatrical works The Floating Lotus Magic Opera Company * The Walls are Running Blood (1968) * Bliss Apocalypse (1970) * Bliss Apocalypse Contemporaries: 28 New American Poets (Viking Press, New York 1972) Dar Al-Islam School, Abiquiu, New Mexico * The Stonecutter's Dream (1988) * The Setting Free of The Blind Princess of Zar (1989) Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship plays * Tayyad Sultan (1994) * Mr Richman and The Shaykh (1995) * The City of Sokku (1996) * Meeting in Mecca (1997) The Floating Lotus Magic Puppet Theater * The Mystical Romance of Layla & Majnun (2000) Songs, musical texts, and libretti * Rainforest text, an oratorio by Henry Brant (1989) * Pilgrimage [Memoirs of a Dying Parachutist], chamber piece for baritone and chamber orchestra by Roscoe Mitchell (1995) * Links [Links], piece for sextet and baritone by Henry Threadgill (1999) * A Piece of Coal [Piece of Coal], for piano and baritone by Stephen Dickman (2001) * The Blind Beekeeper [The Blind Beekeeper], setting for piano and baritone by W. A. Mathieu (2003) See also *List of U.S. poets References * Saturday Review of Books, Kenneth Rexroth on American Poetry (1965) * Rolling Stone, "Floating Lotus" (San Francisco 1969) * Festival—The Book of American Musical Celebrations, segment on “Floating Lotus Magic Opera Company.“ (Collier Books, New York 1970) * Mug Shots: Who's Who in the New Earth, article and biography. (Meridian, World Publishing 1972) * Literary San Francisco, Lawrence Ferlinghetti & Nancy Peters. (City Lights Books/Harper & Row, San Francisco 1980) * Saudi Gazette, "A Lone Voice," Julia Simpson’s article on the poet. (March 16, 1988) * Ellipses Magazine, "Return of a Sufi." (Princeton, Vol V No 5 1996-97) * The Temple, Karl Kempton’s review of The Ramadan Sonnets. (Vol 3 No 3 Summer 1999) Notes External links ;Poems *"The Perfect Moon-Faced One" * Ecstatic Exchange: Poetry of Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore. ;Prose *Why I Embraced Islam" ;Audio / video *Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore at YouTube *Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore at Amazon.com ;About * Daniel Moore Official website. *Interview with Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore at Divergent Artist, 2012: Part I, Part II Category:1940 births Category:American poets Category:Converts to Islam Category:American Sufis Category:American Muslims Category:Living people Category:Muslim writers Category:People from Oakland, California Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets